Talking About Politics

How is this liar different…?

Another post about Trump’s mendacity? Yes, another, and so I suppose I have to confess that I am a bit obsessed about this subject. Why? Trump is dangerous and destructive and ugly in so many ways; why is it that his utter disregard for the truth seems to bug me the most?

Anyway, this is a short post, really just to alert you to the good work of the NY Times’ David Leonhardt, who, with some colleagues, has taken on the daunting task of chronicling this president’s falsehoods. You might find his most recent piece useful if you ever have to deal with a pro-Trump acquaintance who claims that Trump is no worse a liar than other politicians. The fact, of course, is that Trump is peerless in his mendacity, but Leonhardt et. al. go through the exercise of comparing him to Obama. As you would expect, the result isn’t even remotely close.

2 comments

Jeffrey Herrmann December 18, 2017 at 2:16 am

I think Leonhardt was a little unfair to Obama in calling some of those inaccurate statements lies — because that presumes an intent to deceive in every case. Maybe some were merely terminological inexactitudes, as Churchill once said.
As for Presidunce tRump, the presumption of intent to deceive — or utter indifference to whether what he is saying is true — is well justified. He is the champion Liar-in-Chief.

tonygreco December 18, 2017 at 9:12 am

I agree, and Leonhardt et. al. do concede that there are qualitative differences between Obama’s (and even Bush’s) falsehoods and Trump’s, which suggest differences in intent. Of course, not being mind readers, we usually can’t be sure whether a falsehood is a lie (i.e., told deliberately) or just a careless misstatement. But I think that, in Trump’s case, quantity reveals quality . The sheer volume and frequency of his falsehoods indicates an habitual indifference to the truth. IMO, any self-serving falsehood made in disregard for the truth should be considered a lie.